The Fated Match
by strangertrack
Summary: Tezuka. 'Are you purposely suppressing your strength to avoid going against me' Fuji. 'I wonder... if I can also become serious.'


Liberal lifting of dialogue from anime, used for my own evil purposes.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**The Fated Match**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  
**

When Fuji returned his English dictionary to him, Tezuka noticed that one page was earmarked, a deliberate crease of the corner that invited him to investigate.

A single word had been underlined in pencil: retribution.

Tezuka frowned at the word, re-read the definition although he already knew what it meant, then snapped the dictionary shut.

The problem here was that they were two different people with very different personalities. Tezuka didn't understand what Fuji was thinking; very few people, if any, did so how could Tezuka with his rigid views on life?

Given time, Fuji might understand Tezuka but clearly, they were not yet at that point.

xxxxx

As first years, Fuji noticed Tezuka immediately. Everyone did. But unlike everyone else, Fuji saw beyond the talent he was showing to the sheer genius he kept hidden. Fuji hung back in the shadows, keeping a low profile until he felt sure he would make an unforgettable first impression on the boy who had no shortage of people who sought his attention.

"Tezuka-kun."

A disinterested, "Hm?"

"You're really left-handed, aren't you?"

Fuji almost laughed out loud; Tezuka looked so surprised.

"How did you know? Not even Ryuzaki-sensei should know."

Fuji chose to respond with more observations rather than answers, cementing future interest by Tezuka. "You're being careful because of the senpai, right? Because if you got serious and used your left hand, you'd win easily."

The surprise was gone, replaced by the guarded look of a boy who had undergone too much harassment in the past month for the simple crime of being too good, of being unapologetic for being better.

"You're quick to pick things up."

xxxxx

Fuji Yumiko always maintained that her brother Syusuke was a kind boy. He went easy on those less skilled and never gloated or let on that he had played anything other than his best. Yuuta disagreed with his sister's assessment. That 'kindness' was the most cruel, the most infuriating. It meant that his aniki, whom he respected more than anyone, did not see him as an equal.

How could Yuuta possibly catch up and surpass his brother, when his brother refused to run the same race?

xxxxx

There was no record of a match between the two geniuses of Seigaku, either in an official tournament or the Intra-school ranking tournaments.

Tezuka was not one to lose himself in idle musings, but the thought persisted. _Are you purposely suppressing your strength to avoid going against me?_

xxxxx

It was, oddly enough, Taka-san who understood it best. Oishi fretted over the match, the second years and Eiji accused Atobe of playing dirty, and Fuji himself was incensed that Atobe was using the sport to settle his own vendetta.

When the match was over and the two team captains clasped hands, sincere camaraderie in the gesture, it baffled everyone.

Taka-san heard about the match at the hospital, looked down at his bandaged hands, and smiled. "Good for Tezuka," he said, as if Tezuka hadn't lost, hadn't lost the arm that he had just gotten back for nothing.

xxxxx

_Tezuka, it seems I can't really get into a game._

xxxxx

By the second year, Fuji's name was already famous. However, in Tezuka's eyes, it didn't look like he had shown his full strength yet.

Tezuka watched two promising first years race to see who could pick up the most balls, growling at each other the entire time.

If Fuji had more of a will to fight, then maybe he and Tezuka would have been rivals.

As it stood, they walked neither on parallel paths as rivals or intersecting paths as enemies. Fuji had distanced himself to an entirely different plane where he was remote and unreachable.

xxxxx

The entire team watched it and Kirihara played it, but only Fuji saw the true Tachibana in the bloody Tachibana-Kirihara match.

The sophomore ace was good, but he wasn't _that_ good.

The nationally ranked Tachibana Kippei, one of the famed two wings of Kyuushuu, had held back, had allowed himself to get badly injured, and Fuji had a good guess as to why.

It remained unspoken between them, their shared secret burdens to bear.

xxxxx

**retribution ˌretrəˈbyoō sh ən**  
_noun_  
punishment that is considered to be morally right and fully deserved

xxxxx

"A match?"

"Un! I know we're not allowed to have our own matches between the first years, but I want to do it without the senpai's knowledge."

Tezuka didn't reply, looking lost in thought. He had expected the challenge but not so soon.

"It's no good after all?" Fuji frowned, a rare occurrence.

"No, let's do it," accompanied by a rarer smile from Tezuka.

"Really?"

"I also want to have a match with Fuji-kun."

Fuji clasped Tezuka's hands. "Thank you, Tezuka-kun," he beamed.

xxxxx

_Fuji, the reason why I agreed was because I wanted to reveal the true you._

xxxxx

"When you come back, you'll be a perfect Tezuka Kunimitsu, huh?"

Tezuka inclined his head. "Aa. I'll be able to play matches in my best condition. With anyone."

Fuji started, then cautiously repeated, "With anyone?"

"Aa. With anyone."

Fuji hid his expression with a downward look, and when he spoke, his tone was neutral but the words were loaded. "Is that so... I'm looking forward to it."

xxxxx

_"It's Tezuka. The senpai got angry because they found out he was left-handed, that he was taking it easy on them."_

_"It's his arm... they don't know if he'll be able to play with it again."_

_"Such a shame... he could have been the best."_

xxxxx

_"You're really left-handed, aren't you?"_

_"How did you know? Not even Ryuzaki-sensei should know."_

xxxxx

Fuji waited for the gossip and accusations to fly and prepared his resignation from the club. It was inadequate punishment for his crime but the only act of contrition that he could think to offer.

Tezuka never broached the issue, never asked if Fuji had betrayed his secret or demanded an explanation. He quietly switched to his right arm and just as quietly attended therapy.

In a moment of perfect clarity during his first year, Fuji knew that he could never outshine Tezuka Kunimitsu, could never surpass him, even with a handicap. It wasn't a matter of skill or drive, but of Fuji's own sense of justice.

Fuji had forfeited the right to be Tezuka's rival or anything else.

He stepped back and allowed Oishi to provide the friendship and support that he could not, _dared_ not offer.

xxxxx

The angel of divine retribution. If that was Fuji's role, then certainly Kirihara's role was that of the demon of vengeance.

Helplessness, loss, despair... everything that Fuji had inflicted on others was being returned to him in the match.

It was nothing less than he deserved. Belated punishment exacted for his crimes, justice served.

So what was with this stubborn feeling rising from dormant sleep? This almost forgotten yearning, this trembling excitement, this desire to win above all else...

He had not felt it, had not allowed himself to feel it, since that match against Tezuka.

_I feel it. The limits that I thought I had, it turns out they don't exist._

xxxxx_  
_

_Tezuka... I had thought that you and I were the same kind of person until that match... until I saw you... until I saw your determination for victory._

_I wonder... if I can also become serious._

xxxxx

Fuji did not play for himself. Personal victory or glory was unimportant. What mattered was the team... Tezuka's team. He sat on the bench, played the unpopular doubles slot, Singles 3. He played against his teammates and drew them to the limits of their game, but did not test the limits of his own.

Was it okay, now, to throw his silent vows away?

Was it okay to be the best, to knock down not only the opponent standing in front of him, but all others in his path?

xxxxx

_Fuji, one day, when my left arm has fully healed, I will fight against you and pull out your true strength. That is my biggest desire._

xxxxx

It was in his state of blindness that Fuji finally understood.

xxxxx

"Tachibana, I was wrong. Suppressing my own desires was for my own sake, to ease my own sense of guilt. Tezuka never blamed me for what happened. He must have known that I would never intentionally do anything that would get him hurt."

"Fuji..."

"I think your friend must feel the same. He wouldn't have wanted you to give up tennis because of his eye... "

They sat in pensive silence. Tachibana felt the truth of the words but had trouble accepting them. He would need to work things out for himself, as Fuji had done.

"Tennis... is really fun, isn't it?" Fuji picked up his tennis bag and slung it over his shoulder. "The best thing I can do for Tezuka now is to face him straight-on, I realize that now."

"You're going to play him?"

"Aa. This match... I've kept him waiting for three years."

xxxxx

_Tezuka, this is the real me. I hope you're prepared._

xxxxx_  
_

**The End.**

xxxxx

My own personal theory about (1) how the senpai found out about Tezuka's left-handedness although Fuji was the only one who knew, (2) why Fuji suddenly and without explanation became friends with Tachibana, (3) why Oishi ended up vice captain instead of Fuji.

xxxxx

October 6, 2008


End file.
